21Shares is pushing back on one of XRP’s oldest criticisms: that Ripple controls the XRP Ledger.
The asset manager says Ripple operates only one validator among roughly 35 on XRPL’s default trusted validator list. That matters because protocol changes require support from more than 80% of trusted validators before they can activate.
In other words, Ripple cannot change XRPL rules or reverse valid transactions on its own.
Ripple Has Limited Direct Validator Power
XRPL validators independently participate in consensus, and amendments need broad approval across the network.
That makes the claim that Ripple directly “controls” XRPL too simplistic.
Recent governance debates around XRPL lending have shown this in practice. Proposed amendments have failed to reach the required validator threshold despite being discussed for months.
Still, validator control is only one part of the centralization debate.
21Shares Has Nearly $499M in XRP Products
21Shares is not a neutral observer.
Its European AXRP product recently held about $341.5 million, while its U.S. TOXR XRP ETF held roughly $157.2 million.
Combined, that is almost $499 million in XRP investment products.
That does not invalidate its argument, but it gives the firm a clear commercial interest in how institutional investors view XRP.
The Centralization Debate Is More Complicated
Ripple still holds a large amount of XRP through escrow and remains one of the most influential companies in the ecosystem.
So there are really two separate questions.
Does Ripple control XRPL consensus? The validator structure suggests no.
Does Ripple still have significant economic and ecosystem influence? Clearly yes.
That is the distinction often lost in the XRP centralization debate.